Awaiting the super leisurely society

There is a fear regarding the super smart society, also known as Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0, made by AI, IoT, and robots.

People worry that AI may go out of control like HAL. They talk about how some bots are already starting to spew hate speech. There are even cases where robots have hurt or killed humans.

But the scariest aspect of all is the theory that the popularization of AI, IoT, and robotics will steal half of the world’s jobs. This has been predicted by a number of influential studies, giving the theory credibility. 70% of financial transactions are already handled by AI, showing that the supposed takeover may have already begun.

However, economics teaches us that when old jobs are lost, new jobs take their place. MIT Professor Erik Brynjolfsson and McAfee’s book “Race Against the Machine” has a long-term optimistic view of the situation, comparing it with the Industrial Revolution’s Luddite movement.

Many jobs were made by the popularization of the steam engine and electricity in the two phases of the Industrial Revolution. Brynjolfsson theorizes that the third phase, which brought computers and the internet, will create jobs in the long term as well.

Other books make claims about certain jobs that will soon be lost. It is easy to think of jobs that are not competitive. However, it is difficult to imagine what new jobs can be created. This is because these jobs do not exist yet. For humanity’s survival, we must have the power to create these new jobs. Perhaps AI will do that job for us.

However, will AI and robots truly create more work for us? If they were to replace a human worker, then an AI would function as the brain while the robot would function as the body. Is so, then would this not break the previous trends seen with technology and simply result in less work for us?

The farmers who previously tilled their fields with hoes obtained tractors and agrochemicals, making it significantly easier for them to produce large amounts of crops. AI and robots will shoulder our burdens, allowing us to gain income without so much as lifting a finger. We should see this not as having our jobs stolen from us, but being freed from our jobs instead. It is an important implication.

Frankly speaking, that is what I forward to.

I have given a presentation on this at workshop for children, and told them, “If AI and robots do half of our work, then we will just double up. What jobs will the future have?” But in truth, I actually wonder what society would be like if none of us had to work.

It would be a super leisurely society.

Murray Shanahan is the author of The Technological Singularity. In his book, he gives his view as a professor of Cognitive Robotics on the future of AI. Shanahan carefully analyzes AI technology with approaches from the fields of neuroscience and robotics. After thoroughly analyzing brain emulation and copying from the perspectives of physiology and informatics, he discusses the impact that AI will have.

This is Shanahan’s explanation: The total amount of paid labor is guaranteed to decrease in the future. We will reach an age where products and services can be spread through even the poorest levels of society. In this age, everyone will have an equal opportunity at education. It will be an age of unprecedented cultural expression.

I look forward it.